Coco Austin fired back at critics who've accused her of cultural appropriation, late Saturday, July 22. Coco came under fire over social media for putting braids in her hair and coining them Da Coco Swoop style earlier this week. While the veteran model has not in any way tried to capitalize off of her version of what has universally been known as box-braids, there were those who felt she was out of place in branding them her own in the first place. African American women were particularly averse to her owning her new look, prompting Austin to reject the notion that race ought to play any role in the controversy.
"This is so stupid I can't believe I'm talking about it, and I believe this shouldn't turn out to be a race thing," Coco said, before reiterating that she has always named her hairstyles. In the caption of her original post, Austin claimed to have named various hairstyles in the past; while noting that not all of them were traditionally African styles. She mentioned her last style of braids inheriting a nickname that she gave in tribute to actress Bo Derek and questioned why she or anybody should be prohibited from giving an old style a new name.
"Why is everybody claiming something they shouldn't. I know braids have been around for thousands of years. Don't you think I know that? If I wanna wear a pineapple on my head, then I should be able to wear a pineapple on my head and call it the Pineapple Coco Wop," she said.
